Ground engaging track drives with grouser shoes are utilized for bulldozers, backhoes, cranes, and other industrial and commercial equipment. The purpose of these ground engaging track drives is to physically support the heavy equipment over a significant contact area while also providing for a reliable, long-life driving engagement with the ground on which the device is utilized. As an example of the former, on a large bulldozer the net pressure of the bulldozer is reduced to that similar to a grown man standing on tip toes. As an example of the latter, these devices are used to drivingly engage a wide variety of surfaces, ranging from rock in an industrial mine to light sand/soil in construction of a road. The track drives are typically optimized for each utilization in consideration for the type of equipment, the nature of the power to the ground, the surface on which the equipment will be utilized, and other factors. Typically, the base section supports the equipment and the bar provides traction. As the bar penetrates the earth, it is subject to wear over time due to slippage or contact with hard surfaces, such as rock. The materials of which the grouser shoe is manufactured are also important, both for wear resistance, power transference to the surface and potential damage to the surface. The former is typically accomplished by the relatively flat base or pad section of the shoe and the latter by a bar member which extends off from the pad surface.
Although industrial procedures for producing grouser shoes in single and multiple part construction of varying shapes and hardness are known, relatively little has been accomplished in recent years in respect to breakthrough construction techniques or in fundamental design change.
Design variations have been limited by the described manufacturing methods and otherwise.